


Cold

by christinchen



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-10
Updated: 2016-02-10
Packaged: 2018-05-19 13:30:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5968963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/christinchen/pseuds/christinchen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zuko has a cold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cold

**Author's Note:**

> I've been battling a case of the flu for the past week and I decided I need to cheer myself up by writing this...

Zuko hated the cold.

For weeks now they had been travelling through nothing but ice water. Chasing the Avatar, well, rather hoping to find him. 

He liked to think that he had done rather well for himself in the journey so far. For the first few weeks Zuko had trained and trained and trained. Fire provided warmth after all. 

Then he had meditated. The key to perfect control over the fire was inner strength and concentration, or so his uncle kept telling him. Also his rooms were warm. 

Then Zuko made a grave mistake. After more than a month in the open sea and nothing but icebergs to keep him entertained, he decided to start being present on deck to oversee the ongoings and take command of his own ship again. Not that his uncle didn't seem to be doing a good job of it but it didn't hurt to not let him get that comfortable in the position.

The mistake as it turned out to be was that commanding a ship took not that much other than standing around in the cold and yelling orders. And the cold was what lead to his current problem.

Zuko, son of the firelord, was a shaking, shivering mess underneath a pile of blankets. 

It wasn't that he didn't know that he had a pretty nasty case of the flu, it was just that he had never been sick before in his life. Children of the fire nation simply didn't get the flu, especially not bender. The fire in him provided warmth at all times, at least it should. 

Personally he blamed that iceberg they had passed the week before, it had been unusually huge and had definitely not seemed right.

The problem that came with a fire bender having the flu was not one Zuko had quite anticipated. Sure he felt miserable, he was either too hot or too cold, his head and entire body hurt if he did something exhausting like breathing. 

But also sneezing lead to a momentary loss of concentration as it seemed. With every sneeze the fire constantly flickering underneath his skin slipped ever so slightly out of his control and led to something being on fire. Mostly the blanket he was curled up underneath.

The one thing that was left for him to do, Zuko decided, was to get through this with his dignity intact. And that meant no one could find out.

The knock on his door that came a few hours later meant his doom, he just knew it. It was his uncle who had decided that maybe a good cup of tea was the cure to all his ailments.

Just as he was about to put the hot steaming cup down next to Zuko's bed he felt the telltale tickling in his nose. Seconds later all hope was lost and Zuko sneezed. And set his bedding on fire. Again.

His humiliation was followed by loud laughter from his uncle.  
"I've always wondered about that actually," he said putting the flames out.  
"This is not funny," Zuko scowled at him. It wasn't. There was just no dignity in being sick.


End file.
